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December 22, 2015

Its my long time wish to try Christmas special Fruit cake / Plum cake recipe using pressure cooker. Last year I got few request to share some eggless cake recipe in cooker. So keeping that in mind, I tried this eggless fruit cake in pressure cooker using my plum cake convection oven recipe (dry fruits cake). I tried it twice by making some changes. It came out really well, soft n spongy equal to my convection oven & microwave methods. Friends, if you wish to make this Christmas special plum cake at home without oven, try this pressure cooker method. You can make a lovely cake and treat your family members. I wanted to post this recipe with video for beginners. So I have shared my eggless plum cake in pressure cooker video link below. Hope you will find it useful. Soon I will share a post on how to make cookies using cooker which was also requested by many. Now lets check how to make eggless plum cake recipe in pressure cooker with stepwise pictures.
P.S.The color of cake in the pictures are different as I used demerara sugar & refined sugar in equal quantity. In the first picture, both sugars are used whereas in the second picture, only demerara sugar is used.
Do refer my Microwave 3 minutes Eggless plum cake recipe & my fruit cake recipe using convection oven. HEREis my Full Christmas Recipes Collection.

Pros and Cons of pressure cooker cake

Pressure cooker do a great job in baking a cake. So anyone can bake a cake without worrying about convection oven.I am sure you can bake crispy cookies as well.

The softness & the flavor of cake would be almost equal to the oven cake. No compensation.

Baking is done fastly in a cooker than oven based on the flame.

You can either use the powdered salt/sand or in empty cooker for baking the cake. As I don’t want to heat my cooker empty,i used salt here.You can use the same salt for repeated baking.No need to change it everytime.

Actually water is not suggested to use inside pressure cooker by baking experts. But I have baked a cake adding water & got good resultsHERE. If you buy a readymade pressure cooker cake mix,water is sugessted for baking.So i am not sure about this point.

You should be very careful with the baking time when you use pressure cooker because it varies as per the cooker metal,size & the flame.If you use indolium cooker,heat may vary.I used steel cooker here.So you should stay nearby and keep checking every 10 minutes else cake will burn very quickly.Baking is done fastly in cooker than oven.You can easily identify the correct baking with the smell of cake.It wafts through your house nicely.

DO NOT use your cooker for baking the cake very often because cooker will lose its shine and life.DO NOT use gasket.It may burn due to over heat.

The most important thing which I felt bad is the stain marks of cooker. The color of cooker changes to dark brown after heating for 30-40 minutes continuously. So you have to wash it atleast for 10 minutes to remove its stains.

Eggless Plum cake in pressure cooker

How to make Eggless Plum cake in pressure cooker with stepwise pictures & a video!!

In a kadai,take the chopped dry fruits(Do not add nuts now). Add water,butter at room temperature,sugar or demarara sugar ( I used both in equal quantity).Mix well and boil the mixture in low flame for 15 minutes.Dry fruits will be cooked well & soft and the mixture thickens. Switch off the flame and immediately add 1/2 tsp of cooking soda. Mix well. Mixture will become foamy.

Now add the sieved maida mixture, chopped nuts and make the batter.The consistency of batter should be thick and spoonable.Transfer the batter to the lined baking pan.Decorate it with cashews or badam.

Take your pressure cooker & a slotted plate.Any plate would do.I used my 5 liter steel cooker.Now spread 1/2 kg of powdered salt ( or sand ) in the bottom of cooker.Put the plate inside and preheat the cooker in high flame for 10 minutes. No need to put gasket & weight valve(whistle).

Open the cooker after 10 minutes and place the baking pan inside the cooker.Close it with the lid and keep the flame medium.Let the cake cook for 25-30 minutes.Open it once in the middle after 15 minutes and check whether it is cooked.The cooking time may vary as per the size & cooker type.You will get a nice cake smell.Keep an eye after 25 minutes because the bottom & sides of cake will burn quickly.I experienced this problem when i tried for the first time.So please be careful.

Open the cooker after 25 minutes and insert the back of a long spoon or skewer in the middle of cake.If it comes out clean,cake is baked properly.Take out the pan and allow the cake to cool down completely.Invert the cake over a plate and remove the butter paper carefully.Slice n serve !! It tastes the best next day will full of flavors.This cake stays good for a week if stored properly in an air tight box.No refrigeration is needed.

Note

1.Cake batter should be thick and spoonable as shown in the video.

2.Baking time varies as per the flame. So its better to keep it low to medium if you are a beginner. Please keep an eye after 20 minutes else cake may burn at the bottom and sides.

3.The color of cake depends on the sugar you use.If you use brown sugar or demerara sugar, the color of cake will be dark brown whereas if you use normal crystal sugar,color of the cake will be light brown.In the above recipe, I used demerara & refined sugar in equal quantity.

4.Mashed potato,butter and yogurt gives the softness to the cake. So do not skip any ingredient.

5.Adding orange peel/zest is optional but it gives a nice flavor. So add it along with yogurt.

6.Most important point : You should remove the cake only after it cools down completely else it may break into pieces.This cake needs a standing time of 1-2 hours for all the taste to blend well.

I hope you can follow the same in a idli pot instead of cooker but I have not tried it though.

12 comments
:

Hi Chitra I want to try this cake in my oven.in this recipe u have said not to add nuts while boiling dry fruits then when we have to add?oven temperature is 180degree preheat for 10min and then bake for 1hr.am I correct?please do reply as I want to try tomorrow.regarding dry fruits cashew badham pista dry grapes dates tutti fruity I have.is this enough or I have to add cherries or other dry fruits.please tell.thanks in advance.

Hi harini yes u can try in oven. I have made a separate post for it.please refer that for baking time because it takes less time in oven.may be 40 to 50mins. Yes u can use only these nuts.no need to buy. Nuts should be added along with flour.

Hi chitra today made this cake.came out very well.ofcourse i tried this in oven following oven temperatures given in other recipe.tasted yummy...It took 1hr and 10 min in my oven.i had a doubt.when making fruit mixture after boiling for 20 min .It seemed to be very thick and chewy.not even able to stir by the ladle.ll it be like that?Or i have to add little more water?I was very doubtful about the cake.but when I added curd, essence and potato i mixed it with my hand then the consistency became loose i was happy then i mixed in nuts and flour.after baking it came out well.please clarify my doubt.thanks for the recipe as usual ur recipe came out well.

Thank you so much for taking time to write here Harini :) Your feedback really made my day. Regarding the fruit mixture, boiling for 15 minutes in low to medium flame helps for this issue.No need to boil until dry fruits becomes chewy. Our aim is just to cook the dry druits till soft. So If you feel its done , you can remove in 10 minutes too. I will mention this point in the post too. Thanks for the query. But glad your final output came out well. Did you taste the cake, is the dry fruits taste chewy and hard ? If so please mention it here. I will try to make changes in the cooking time. Once again, thanks a bunch for your positive feedback Harini :)

Hi Chitra,the cake tasted too good.every one at home liked it very much.it was not chewy or hard.it was good only.but I think I should have removed little earlier,I was doing by the timing rather than checking the cooking.and water can we add little more?the consistency of the fruit mixture is semi solid or little bit flowy?

No need to add more water but as you said it would be better to boil in low flame instead of medium flame so that the consistency would be right. It should be semi solid. But Iam glad the cake tasted good and dry fruits were not chewy :) once again thank you so much harini for your wonderful feedback :) Wish you a very happy new year in advance :)